The election of October 1974 was the second general election fought in the space of eight months. In February, Edward Heath's Conservative Government proved unable to take control of a hung Parliament, leaving the Labour Party to form the first minority government since 1929.

Harold Wilson, now Prime Minister for the third time, successfully took action to end the miners' strike that had helped to bring Heath's government down. Labour attempted to work with the unions to end the perennial industrial disputes that had made Britain an unstable and divided nation, but it was clear that Wilson needed to call a second general election if the Government was to remain in office.

Britain's continuing instability and the deterioration of living standards in comparison to the rest of Europe provided the backdrop for the election campaign. Inflation, which was climbing partly due to the Government's pay settlement with the miners, was high as were balance of trade deficits.

The Labour Party, however, remained confident of victory, hoping that the country would give it longer than eight months to solve the nation's problems. Wilson also assumed that he could blame the previous Tory administration and the prevailing global economic trends for Britain's unhappy state. In September Wilson called the election for 10 October.

Heath's third electoral defeat paved the way for Margaret Thatcher's election as Tory leader in 1975

Even though the polls had shown a Labour lead of 5-10%, Wilson ended up with a majority of just three MPs. Heath had now lost three out of four general elections. He was criticised by The Economist for putting in a "soggy performance", and his days as Tory leader were numbered. Wilson had now become Prime Minister for the fourth time, equalling Gladstone's record.

The October election contained more women candidates, more Liberals, more Welsh and Scottish nationalists and more National Front than ever before. Margaret Beckett and Bryan Gould were among those new members brought into the House on the back of Wilson's victory.

The Labour share of the vote increased by 2%, the Tory vote dropped by the same amount. The Liberals made a strong showing of 18% but this was, disappointingly, 1% lower than in February. Labour had 42 seats more than the Tories and would be able to govern comfortably, at least for the moment.